Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to NYC and LA theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, December 23: WHERE TO INVADE NEXT

Michael Moore’s subversive invasion of other nations had its world premiere at Toronto this Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, the New York Film Festival, Hamptons, Denver, AFI Fest, and Philadelphia, among other events. The film has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. After this exclusive NYC and LA run, Moore will sneak peek the doc in a state-by-state tour for six weeks starting January 4 before its national rollout beginning February 12.

Moore’s latest begins with an imagined scenario in which the Joint Chiefs of Staff turn to the provocateur, offer a mea culpa for the mess they’ve made in ever war since WWII, and ask for his advice on our next international power play. As a response to this wish fulfillment, Moore agrees to take charge of America’s future invasions. The twist, of course, is that Moore imagines himself as a one-man army corps, heading into other nations to claim their best ideas for the good old US of A, and bringing along a big flag to make his claim. In Italy, he sets his sights on paid work leave; in France, on quality, nutritious school lunches; in Finland, on a revamped public school system that has parted ways with homework and standardized testing; in Slovenia, on a free university program for foreigners; in Iceland, on female leadership; and in Germany, on an honest reckoning with the country’s historical crimes. Along the way, Moore overindulges in the role of the stereotypical ignorant, ill-informed American – essentially spit-taking his way through the utopian factoids offered up here that put the US system to shame – and critics will find it ridiculously easy to point out how one-sided the director’s version of these policies are presented, since there are no dissenting voices here, nor any acknowledgement of the things that are going badly in any of the countries he’s visiting. But that’s fine – for the project that Moore has undertaken, there never is any pretense that he will offer a comprehensive overview of European sociopolitical ills. As facile as his “invasion” may seem, and as much as it’s a distinct case of preaching to the converted, the doc does underscore significant places where our own approaches are wanting and are in desperate need of an overhaul. If Moore’s “gee whiz” approach might wear a bit thin, the general optimism he pushes here is still a welcome change of pace from the more typical strident approach that has gotten to be fairly one-note in the past.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, December 21: BOLSHOI BABYLON

Director Nick Read and co-director Mark Franchetti’s look at the fallout of a ballet world scandal made its bow at Toronto this Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Hamptons, CPH:DOX, and IDFA, among other events.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres and VOD tomorrow, Friday, December 18: NOMA: MY PERFECT STORM

Pierre Deschamps’ intimate look at René Redzepi’s revolutionary Copenhagen restaurant debuted at San Sebastian this Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, CPH:DOX, and the food-focused Tokyo Gohan fest.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC, saying:
When René Redzepi set out to create Noma, a restaurant in Copenhagen that only used Nordic ingredients, the culinary community thought he was mad. Within a relatively short period of time, Noma bested longtime champion El Bulli to be named the best restaurant in the world. The acclaimed chef’s continual updating of Nordic cuisine allowed Noma to keep that title three years in a row, but after a surprising upset costs him the top spot, Redzepi seeks redemption through reinvention in Pierre Deschamps’ delectable documentary.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, December 16: DREAMS REWIRED

Manu Luksch, Martin Reinhart, and Thomas Tode’s exploration of 21st century hyper-connectivity through the history of 20th century technological innovations had its world premiere at Rotterdam at the beginning of the year. Its fest circuit has also included Seattle, Jerusalem, Milan, Message to Man, Hamburg, Jihlava, CPH:DOX, Kansas, and Tehran’s Cinema Verite.

Working from the premise that the roots of our modern technological- and information-focused age may easily be found in the advances made in the early part of the previous century, Luksch, Reinhart, and Tode’s essay film offers a whimsical look at the impact of the telephone, radio, and especially cinema on our imagination, interactions, and aspirations. Assembling a selection of clips from both classic early cinema – Vertov, Marey, Edison, Melies, Keaton, and Eisenstein, among them – and much more obscure industrial and experimental material, the film underscores how this technology and other 20th century innovations offered us a new way to view the world, each other, and, recursively, the technology itself. In a welcome instance of a celebrity narrator lending something more than substantial than simple name recognition to a work of nonfiction, Tilda Swinton here offers intriguing commentary and often funny, cheeky dialogue imaginings that underscore the modernity of the decades-old clips employed, suggesting connections between on-screen utilizations of then-new telephony and radio to today’s online sphere and our immersion within it.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, December 16: THE WINDING STREAM

Beth Harrington’s look at the influence of the Carter and Cash families on country music bowed at SXSW last year. Further fest play included Cleveland, Nashville, Atlanta, the Southern Circuit, Woods Hole, Sound + Vision, DokuFest, Hot Springs Doc, New Orleans’ filmOrama, Galway, and St Louis, among others.

Harrington’s history lesson begins in the late 1920s at the dawn of modern country music, when the fledgling music industry sought to record Appalachian musicians as a source for new albums. Responding to the advertisements was AP Carter, who convinced his wife Sara and his sister-in-law Maybelle to travel from their rural mountain home to Bristol VA to perform for the big city music producer. As a result, the Carter Family was born, with AP also inspired to seek out other old Appalachian songs to add to their repertoire. As royalties from their recordings came in, they began to tour and amassed an appreciative audience via medical quack John R Brinkley’s powerful XERA radio station (Brinkley’s own bizarre story is the subject of upcoming Sundance documentary NUTS!). Among the listeners was Johnny Cash, appearing here in a 2003 interview just before his death, who would later go on to marry Maybelle’s daughter June. The charismatic June had joined her mother together with her two sisters in a permutation of the Carter troupe, further extending the family’s domination of the burgeoning music genre. Harrington weaves in the stories of these two families and their offspring – incorporating generous amounts of music, from old archival recordings to new renditions by the likes of Sheryl Crow and George Jones – to create an affectionate and often compelling tribute that’s accessible to both longtime fans and newcomers alike.